Eric Vernan

GEORGE TOWN, Grand Cayman:

THEODORE WHITMORE had a fair number of reasons to be pleased with the Reggae Boyz's performance against a Cayman Islands All-Star team on Thursday night, with the team leading 5-0 when the contest was blown off at the 70th minute in heavy rainfall.

Devon Hodges got a hat-trick, the goals coming at the 20th, 59th and 65th minutes, while Ricardo Fuller (24th) and second-half sub Keammar Daley (58th) also got their names on the scoresheet.

The increased formation of puddles on the astro turf at the T.E. McField Sports Complex - which was affecting ball movement - and constant flashes of lightning, forced referee Nolan Foster to abbreviate the contest.

By then though, the Jamaicans had put a lot of what they have been practising into play and were really pouring it on as they were getting more clinical in their build-ups and finishing, much to the delight of their head coach, Whitmore.

wreaking havoc

Boyd will be dangerous for Tivoli.

Commenting on the area of his team's play that pleased him most, Whitmore said: "Basically, how most of our goals were scored. The whole build-up, get wide and square and finish, I was most happy with that."

Amid a formation pitting three at the centre of defence, the pattern was quite clear, with two sets of players on either flank, frontmen Ricardo Fuller and Navion Boyd, as well as Eric Vernan and Bryan Bayliss operating from behind, wreaking havoc all night on the Caymanians in the lane they had carved out, to whip in many crosses.

Fuller, though careful and conservative, easily reflected superiority and Vernan's pace was troubling. Boyd was cunning, confident, at times befuddling and especially menacing as he laid scoring chances on a platter all night.

"Good performance, I think he was the one who created a lot of the chances," noted Whitmore. "He could've got a goal to cap off a good performance, but it was an excellent performance."

He went close to scoring on several occasions, even smashing a shot into goalkeeper James Josephs' face. Importantly, he rolled out the pass that started the ball rolling, feeding a ball to Hodges, who tapped into an open net from close range for a 20th-minute lead.

The next goal, four minutes later by Fuller, was a striker's classic. He met Bayliss' flat, curling corner kick at the six-yard spot with a powerful, downward header that squeezed in at the base of the goal before the post-marking defender knew what had happened.

easily dominating

Jamaica, though, weren't always on song in the first half, though easily dominating the Cayman All-Star team which fought hard, but never possessed enough quality to match the Reggae Boyz in attack or defence.

"Defensively in the first half, if we play against better teams than this, we're going to get punished," Whitmore predicted. "With the three we were playing, I guess the understanding wasn't there because at times our sweeper, Desmond Breakenridge, got involved in some things he shouldn't have got into because Damion (Stewart) and Adrian (Reid) weren't marking at the time so it forced Breakenridge to do a lot of tackling. But in the second half it was a bit better."

Those moments were few and far between. Most of the Caymanians' offensives were broken up in mid-pitch, as they struggled to put passes together and they were never a threat to the Jamaican defence throughout, even though they forced one save out of starting goalie, Duwayne Kerr, from a free kick hit from the arc at half-line in the first half.

They also got a good opportunity in the curtailed second stanza. Dwayne Miller, who replaced Kerr at the half, made a mistimed clearance and the ball ended up at the feet of Nahun Rodriquez. However, his kick was feeble and off target.

Jamaica's play was more measured and controlled in the second half, as they possessed the ball for longer periods and played with far more patience.

All those factors combined for a beautiful third goal at the 58th minute, as the team moved the ball to all areas of the pitch inside their half while playing close to 40 passes, then scythed their way swiftly through the Cayman team when they grew impatient and ill-advisedly pressed high.

With no more than five quick passes through the flanks, Jamaica team worked their way from the penalty box to deep in their opponents' half where Vernan served a grounded pass that was smashed into the goal by Daley who had replaced at half-time.

Within a minute, the Jamaica team won possession and coordinated another deadly attack at pace, which saw goalkeeper James Joseph spill a shot from Oraine Simpson, who had replaced Vernan at kick-off after the third goal.

missed chances

Hodges was on the doorstep to make the putback for a 4-0 lead, then closed out a triple when he buried a header off Bayliss' cross, to tally his fourth goal in the past two matches.

Jamaica, which twice hit the goal frame with finishes from Fuller and Bayliss, and also had a header from Hodges cleared off the line after they were held up by the water on the pitch, missed many chances.

However, Whitmore was generally satisfied with the tallying of his team, which is using this one-week camp in the Cayman Islands to extend their build-up to the CONCACAF Gold Cup Finals, that they will kick off against Canada at the Home Depot Centre in Los Angeles next Friday.

"We played in patches tonight, I guess the weather and the pitch had a lot to do with it. But overall, it's a good performance from our team," he said.

"I think it's a positive sign to play these type of games and get a lot of goals ... even though we could have scored a lot more," he added. "Credit must be given to the Cayman Islands goalkeeper, who made a lot of saves."